For the UN , the ozone layer will have recovered 100% in that year thanks to the ban on chemical products in the world in the Montreal Protocol.
The UN said that by 2066 the ozone layer will have fully recovered thanks to a worldwide ban on the use of chemicals that caused a hole in the ozonosphere over the Antarctic.
The scientific advisory group for the Montreal Protocol , an international agreement that came into force in 1989 to eliminate the use of ozone – depleting chemicals , said in a report released today that 99 % of banned substances have left to be used, which is allowing the recovery of the ozonosphere.
The scientists pointed out that, if current policies are maintained, by 2066 the ozone layer in Antarctica will have recovered to 1980 levels. In the Arctic, recovery will occur more quickly, in 2045, while in the rest of the world it will be in 2040.
Great news
Meg Seki, executive secretary of the Ozone Secretariat of the UN Environment Programme , called the scientists’ findings “fantastic news.”
“The impact that the Montreal Protocol has had in mitigating climate change cannot be ignored. For the past 35 years, the Protocol has been a true defender of the environment,” Seki added.
An amendment to the Montreal Protocol approved in 2016 requires the gradual elimination of the use of hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs), which, although they do not directly damage ozone, do contribute to climate change.
According to the Protocol’s scientific panel, phasing out the use of HFCs will reduce global warming by 0.3 to 0.5 degrees Celsius by 2100.
The group of scientists also warned about the possible negative effects of the injection into the stratosphere of products to reduce climate change.
The so-called Stratospheric Injection of Aerosols (IEA) has been proposed as a possible method to limit the amount of sunlight that reaches the Earth’s surface and thus reduce climate change.
But the scientific panel warned that the IEA could affect temperatures in the stratosphere, the circulation and production of ozone, as well as the destruction and transport rates of the gas.
The ozone layer , or ozonosphere, is an area of the stratosphere that shields the planet from ultraviolet rays emitted by the Sun. The ozonosphere absorbs between 97 and 99% of ultraviolet radiation.
Without the protection of ozone, a gas made up of three oxygen atoms, ultraviolet radiation from the Sun would irreversibly damage life on the planet. EFE